If you’ve ever heard of the Roma, it’s likely the romanticized version of brightly clad gypsies drifting carefree in caravans across Europe, setting up camp, stealing the local chickens and dancing until sunrise.

In reality present-day Roma — also known as the Romany — can no longer easily roam across watchful national borders and their wagons now haul any rare treasure liberated from the garbage dumps on which they live. Their neighbors despise, spit upon and hit them if they dare occupy the same sidewalks.

Their poverty is so desperate they wear a layer of dirt like a shirt. They need housing, education, food, clothes, medicine, paved streets, grass to play, gas for stoves, boards to plug drafts in their shacks and shoes for their feet when they step outside to the toilet in below zero temperatures.

At the invitation of the disaster relief organization Hungarian Baptist Aid, North Carolina Baptist Men and Women on Mission began serving the Roma in their slatternly villages around the Ukrainian city of Mukacheve (known in Hungarian as Munkacs) in 2008. Their task: to refurbish an abandoned KGB station as a community worship, ministry and education center.

After a number of trips local Christians said they could complete the building’s refurbishing. What they really needed were people to come and love the unlovable, to shine the light of Christ into the dark recesses of rejection and shame.

The work order changed from carpentry to caring.

Now each summer volunteers hold vacation Bible schools, teach English and generally hang out with kids and families, demonstrating love and acceptance Roma rarely find in their environment.

A spontaneous clinic organized with a few medicines packed by volunteers “just in case” revealed needs so overwhelming that the caring aspect took on a medical tone.

Videographer K Brown has been to Ukraine 15 times since 2007 as part of his assignment with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. His wife, Dana, has been on those trips and three more on her own.

Jill Burleson, wife of Roxboro Baptist music minister Mike Moose, and a nurse practitioner at Duke University Medical Center, tells describes her first arrival at the Roma village in Mukacheve, which, like so many others, begins where the paved road ends:

“Our van passed a whitewashed brick wall, switching from a quaint village … to a trash heap. Mud roads jostled our insides while we tried to comprehend the stark reality behind that wall: Filth, trash, mud, disease, houses crafted crudely out of sticks or mud, roofs patched with cardboard and trash to hold it in place.

“Children with naked brown bodies and swollen bellies from malnutrition ran alongside the van to cheer and wave. Their dirty faces strained to make out these strangers coming to visit. The need was overwhelming. And the tears began.

“Those tears were soon dried by mamas and children clamoring to hug, kiss and engulf us into their fold as if we were family. We entered a building, from which a melody came floating lightly, joyously, on the putrid air, turning the stench of the trash into a holy aroma rising to the heavens. And there we worshiped.”

Ann Enloe, an oncology nurse at WakeMed Health and Hospitals in Raleigh, N.C., says, “I actually never knew the Roma gypsies existed until this trip. And now I just can’t forget them.”

No visitor leaves these Roma unaffected.

They worship passionately, says music minister Moose. True worshippers come to God with empty hands, he adds. “Our hands are so full we have to put things down to worship. They [the Roma] have nothing in their hands. God is all they have. It is precious. When they sing Blessed Be Your Name they really mean it. It’s emotional to hear them sing.”

On his first trip to Mukacheve, Moose slipped off a boardwalk and into the meandering, muddy drainage ditch that passes as a street. He smelled foul to himself, but not to a little child who wanted to play.

“I smelled just like he did,” Moose says. “It was an identification. Their love runs so deep, beyond the smell, beyond the filth. It is a precious gift to be with those people.”

That slurry of mud and sewage into which Moose stepped flows dangerous and constant. It is a vein that stains the village and illustrates the poverty that makes children its most poignant victims.

Trish Long, a pharmacist at Duke Regional Hospital in Durham, N.C., and a member of Roxboro Baptist, explains:

“Because of lack of basic medical care and poor nutrition, simple summer colds can become serious lung infections. Children with no shoes walking in mud develop abscesses on their feet and legs from the many cuts and sores.

“Poor sanitation and filthy living conditions lead to parasite infestation, chronic diarrhea, and weight loss in an already underweight child. For some of these children, this can lead to serious life threatening conditions.”

“Is the medical attention, vitamins and medicine our groups provide just a band-aid?” Brown asks. “Yes. We take worm pills for the kids. Three months later, they’ll have worms again with constant diarrhea and trips to the outhouse through mud and snow. But for three months they’ve felt better than they can remember. I’ll take three months.”

In the village where K and Dana are treated as family and no longer as visitors, one tap provides water for 25 homes — when it flows. Other area wells bore first through garbage dumps, drawing water polluted with the residue leaching through the soil.

It didn’t take long — just the first hours — for the initial medical team to understand their reason for being there.

A woman named Lilly came to the clinic in severe distress. Several weeks earlier her dress had caught fire while she was sifting through the garbage, looking for anything useable to eat, wear or sell.

Despite third degree burns over much of her body, she was sent home from the hospital in Mukacheve with little attention and no pain medication. Had she been in North Carolina, one of the nurses said, she would have been in a burn unit for a month.

Her underwear was never removed and she was using a rag for a bandage. Skin started to grow back with the fabric attached. The pain would have been excruciating.

In the moment they met Lilly the team knew they’d come to Mukacheve for her. They spent two hours removing the fabric that had grown into her skin, gently cleaning the wounds and easing her pain.

“She came back every morning for continued treatment and her transformation was amazing — from a withdrawn blank stare to an enormous smile and gentle hugs,” said Jill.

Burns are common among Roma because of open flame cooking, in both outside pits and small stoves in the middle of their 12 x 12 houses. Latent injuries lurk in the smoldering garbage piles in which they sift for salvageable items.

DuPre Sanders, pastor of Roxboro Baptist Church, has not been to Mukacheve, but has traveled to Guatemala and Belize where members also are involved in international missions. They revisit sites to establish relationships, rather than conducting one stop drop-ins.

“Those who go know the people,” he says. “They care about the people. They care about the churches and the work that is being done and those relationships grow as you go.

“Every time they come back and share their stories there is renewed energy for the work there.”

Missions involvement helps Roxboro members “understand the importance of being a part of something bigger than we are. It’s helped us reach outside the walls of our church and not be inward focused.”

Roxboro’s involvement overseas and locally with Stop Hunger Now and Operation Inasmuch, is “good for us,” Sanders says.

“We’re a traditional Baptist church on Main Street in a traditional, small Southern town. These efforts broaden our horizons greatly. We’re Kingdom people who are called to serve with other believers in the kingdom.”

—This article originally appeared inHerald, BNG’s bi-monthly magazine. To find out more about the magazine, click here.

]]>

Engaging the Roma in Ukraine leaves no visitor unchanged.

By Norman Jameson

If you’ve ever heard of the Roma, it’s likely the romanticized version of brightly clad gypsies drifting carefree in caravans across Europe, setting up camp, stealing the local chickens and dancing until sunrise.

In reality present-day Roma — also known as the Romany — can no longer easily roam across watchful national borders and their wagons now haul any rare treasure liberated from the garbage dumps on which they live. Their neighbors despise, spit upon and hit them if they dare occupy the same sidewalks.

Their poverty is so desperate they wear a layer of dirt like a shirt. They need housing, education, food, clothes, medicine, paved streets, grass to play, gas for stoves, boards to plug drafts in their shacks and shoes for their feet when they step outside to the toilet in below zero temperatures.

At the invitation of the disaster relief organization Hungarian Baptist Aid, North Carolina Baptist Men and Women on Mission began serving the Roma in their slatternly villages around the Ukrainian city of Mukacheve (known in Hungarian as Munkacs) in 2008. Their task: to refurbish an abandoned KGB station as a community worship, ministry and education center.

After a number of trips local Christians said they could complete the building’s refurbishing. What they really needed were people to come and love the unlovable, to shine the light of Christ into the dark recesses of rejection and shame.

The work order changed from carpentry to caring.

Now each summer volunteers hold vacation Bible schools, teach English and generally hang out with kids and families, demonstrating love and acceptance Roma rarely find in their environment.

A spontaneous clinic organized with a few medicines packed by volunteers “just in case” revealed needs so overwhelming that the caring aspect took on a medical tone.

Videographer K Brown has been to Ukraine 15 times since 2007 as part of his assignment with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. His wife, Dana, has been on those trips and three more on her own.

Jill Burleson, wife of Roxboro Baptist music minister Mike Moose, and a nurse practitioner at Duke University Medical Center, tells describes her first arrival at the Roma village in Mukacheve, which, like so many others, begins where the paved road ends:

“Our van passed a whitewashed brick wall, switching from a quaint village … to a trash heap. Mud roads jostled our insides while we tried to comprehend the stark reality behind that wall: Filth, trash, mud, disease, houses crafted crudely out of sticks or mud, roofs patched with cardboard and trash to hold it in place.

“Children with naked brown bodies and swollen bellies from malnutrition ran alongside the van to cheer and wave. Their dirty faces strained to make out these strangers coming to visit. The need was overwhelming. And the tears began.

“Those tears were soon dried by mamas and children clamoring to hug, kiss and engulf us into their fold as if we were family. We entered a building, from which a melody came floating lightly, joyously, on the putrid air, turning the stench of the trash into a holy aroma rising to the heavens. And there we worshiped.”

Ann Enloe, an oncology nurse at WakeMed Health and Hospitals in Raleigh, N.C., says, “I actually never knew the Roma gypsies existed until this trip. And now I just can’t forget them.”

No visitor leaves these Roma unaffected.

They worship passionately, says music minister Moose. True worshippers come to God with empty hands, he adds. “Our hands are so full we have to put things down to worship. They [the Roma] have nothing in their hands. God is all they have. It is precious. When they sing Blessed Be Your Name they really mean it. It’s emotional to hear them sing.”

On his first trip to Mukacheve, Moose slipped off a boardwalk and into the meandering, muddy drainage ditch that passes as a street. He smelled foul to himself, but not to a little child who wanted to play.

“I smelled just like he did,” Moose says. “It was an identification. Their love runs so deep, beyond the smell, beyond the filth. It is a precious gift to be with those people.”

That slurry of mud and sewage into which Moose stepped flows dangerous and constant. It is a vein that stains the village and illustrates the poverty that makes children its most poignant victims.

Trish Long, a pharmacist at Duke Regional Hospital in Durham, N.C., and a member of Roxboro Baptist, explains:

“Because of lack of basic medical care and poor nutrition, simple summer colds can become serious lung infections. Children with no shoes walking in mud develop abscesses on their feet and legs from the many cuts and sores.

“Poor sanitation and filthy living conditions lead to parasite infestation, chronic diarrhea, and weight loss in an already underweight child. For some of these children, this can lead to serious life threatening conditions.”

“Is the medical attention, vitamins and medicine our groups provide just a band-aid?” Brown asks. “Yes. We take worm pills for the kids. Three months later, they’ll have worms again with constant diarrhea and trips to the outhouse through mud and snow. But for three months they’ve felt better than they can remember. I’ll take three months.”

In the village where K and Dana are treated as family and no longer as visitors, one tap provides water for 25 homes — when it flows. Other area wells bore first through garbage dumps, drawing water polluted with the residue leaching through the soil.

It didn’t take long — just the first hours — for the initial medical team to understand their reason for being there.

A woman named Lilly came to the clinic in severe distress. Several weeks earlier her dress had caught fire while she was sifting through the garbage, looking for anything useable to eat, wear or sell.

Despite third degree burns over much of her body, she was sent home from the hospital in Mukacheve with little attention and no pain medication. Had she been in North Carolina, one of the nurses said, she would have been in a burn unit for a month.

Her underwear was never removed and she was using a rag for a bandage. Skin started to grow back with the fabric attached. The pain would have been excruciating.

In the moment they met Lilly the team knew they’d come to Mukacheve for her. They spent two hours removing the fabric that had grown into her skin, gently cleaning the wounds and easing her pain.

“She came back every morning for continued treatment and her transformation was amazing — from a withdrawn blank stare to an enormous smile and gentle hugs,” said Jill.

Burns are common among Roma because of open flame cooking, in both outside pits and small stoves in the middle of their 12 x 12 houses. Latent injuries lurk in the smoldering garbage piles in which they sift for salvageable items.

DuPre Sanders, pastor of Roxboro Baptist Church, has not been to Mukacheve, but has traveled to Guatemala and Belize where members also are involved in international missions. They revisit sites to establish relationships, rather than conducting one stop drop-ins.

“Those who go know the people,” he says. “They care about the people. They care about the churches and the work that is being done and those relationships grow as you go.

“Every time they come back and share their stories there is renewed energy for the work there.”

Missions involvement helps Roxboro members “understand the importance of being a part of something bigger than we are. It’s helped us reach outside the walls of our church and not be inward focused.”

Roxboro’s involvement overseas and locally with Stop Hunger Now and Operation Inasmuch, is “good for us,” Sanders says.

“We’re a traditional Baptist church on Main Street in a traditional, small Southern town. These efforts broaden our horizons greatly. We’re Kingdom people who are called to serve with other believers in the kingdom.”

—This article originally appeared inHerald, BNG’s bi-monthly magazine. To find out more about the magazine, click here.

]]>Norman JamesonMissionsTue, 25 Nov 2014 14:08:49 -0500European Baptists lament violence in Mid-East, Ukrainehttp://baptistnews.com/ministry/organizations/item/29278-european-baptists-lament-violence
http://baptistnews.com/ministry/organizations/item/29278-european-baptists-lament-violenceMeeting in Romania, leaders of the European Baptist Federation addressed current violence in both the Middle East and Ukraine and took note “with sorrow” of the 100th anniversary of World War I.

By Bob Allen

The European Baptist Federation council pledged solidarity with persecuted Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East in a resolution approved at a Sept. 24-27 gathering in Bucharest, Romania.

The resolution “deplores as evil the aggression and actions of extremist groups and prays for an end to all current violence and hatred throughout the Middle East.” It says the path to achieving peace and freedom from extremism “is through justice, development, human rights and rule of law.”

One of the six regions of the Baptist World Alliance, the EBF is comprised of approximately 770,000 Baptists in 52 unions and conventions and seven affiliated churches and networks across Europe and in the Middle East.

The EBF, founded in 1949 to unite European Baptists as Europe emerged from the devastation of World War II, also passed a resolution recalling “with sorrow” the 100th anniversary of “the sacrifice, slaughter and human suffering which was a result of the First World War.” The resolution challenged Baptists in all regions of the world “to work for peace under the lordship and rule of Jesus Christ.”

The council also adopted a Baptist World Alliance resolution adopted in Izmir, Turkey, at its annual gathering in July on the current political crisis in Ukraine.

It encouraged the work of Ukrainian Baptists in reaching out to those most affected by the conflict and urged “the leaders and churches of the Baptist unions of Ukraine and Russia to overcome prejudice and misunderstanding in the situation, to seek to ‘speak the truth in love’ (Ephesians 4:15) to each other, and to continue to work together in partnership toward a common vision of mission and the growth of the Kingdom of God in their region.”

]]>Meeting in Romania, leaders of the European Baptist Federation addressed current violence in both the Middle East and Ukraine and took note “with sorrow” of the 100th anniversary of World War I.

By Bob Allen

The European Baptist Federation council pledged solidarity with persecuted Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East in a resolution approved at a Sept. 24-27 gathering in Bucharest, Romania.

The resolution “deplores as evil the aggression and actions of extremist groups and prays for an end to all current violence and hatred throughout the Middle East.” It says the path to achieving peace and freedom from extremism “is through justice, development, human rights and rule of law.”

One of the six regions of the Baptist World Alliance, the EBF is comprised of approximately 770,000 Baptists in 52 unions and conventions and seven affiliated churches and networks across Europe and in the Middle East.

The EBF, founded in 1949 to unite European Baptists as Europe emerged from the devastation of World War II, also passed a resolution recalling “with sorrow” the 100th anniversary of “the sacrifice, slaughter and human suffering which was a result of the First World War.” The resolution challenged Baptists in all regions of the world “to work for peace under the lordship and rule of Jesus Christ.”

The council also adopted a Baptist World Alliance resolution adopted in Izmir, Turkey, at its annual gathering in July on the current political crisis in Ukraine.

It encouraged the work of Ukrainian Baptists in reaching out to those most affected by the conflict and urged “the leaders and churches of the Baptist unions of Ukraine and Russia to overcome prejudice and misunderstanding in the situation, to seek to ‘speak the truth in love’ (Ephesians 4:15) to each other, and to continue to work together in partnership toward a common vision of mission and the growth of the Kingdom of God in their region.”

The general secretary of American Baptist Churches USA is calling on each of the denomination’s 5,200 congregations to offer prayers each Sunday in August for nations impacted by the “continued escalation of conflict” around the globe this summer.

“From the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 to the mutual acts of violence between Israel and Hamas, more and more innocents are being killed as the perpetrators refuse the ways of peace,” A. Roy Medley said July 18, expressing what he called the “deep anguish” of American Baptists.

“The recent hostilities between Israel and Hamas only add to the enmity between the two and add yet another obstacle to the prayers and efforts of many to negotiate peace between Israel and Palestinians,” said Medley. “This most recent armed conflict arose from the tragic and horrible deaths of four innocent men and is now claiming even more innocents. While each side may seek short-term tactical gains, they do so at great cost to themselves and the world as anger, resentment and revenge prevail over the hard work of a politically negotiated peace.

“Likewise, the conflict in Ukraine is bringing untold suffering to that country and now to the families of the innocents on Flight 17.”

Medley also cited continued violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which he called “one of the bloodiest conflicts in the world.”

The American Baptist leader urged congregations to pray especially for churches in the unsettled regions which “labor for peace.”

“May the Spirit of Christ, the Prince of Peace, strengthen and encourage them in this holy work,” he said.

The general secretary of American Baptist Churches USA is calling on each of the denomination’s 5,200 congregations to offer prayers each Sunday in August for nations impacted by the “continued escalation of conflict” around the globe this summer.

“From the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 to the mutual acts of violence between Israel and Hamas, more and more innocents are being killed as the perpetrators refuse the ways of peace,” A. Roy Medley said July 18, expressing what he called the “deep anguish” of American Baptists.

“The recent hostilities between Israel and Hamas only add to the enmity between the two and add yet another obstacle to the prayers and efforts of many to negotiate peace between Israel and Palestinians,” said Medley. “This most recent armed conflict arose from the tragic and horrible deaths of four innocent men and is now claiming even more innocents. While each side may seek short-term tactical gains, they do so at great cost to themselves and the world as anger, resentment and revenge prevail over the hard work of a politically negotiated peace.

“Likewise, the conflict in Ukraine is bringing untold suffering to that country and now to the families of the innocents on Flight 17.”

Medley also cited continued violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which he called “one of the bloodiest conflicts in the world.”

The American Baptist leader urged congregations to pray especially for churches in the unsettled regions which “labor for peace.”

“May the Spirit of Christ, the Prince of Peace, strengthen and encourage them in this holy work,” he said.

The Baptist World Alliance and European Baptist Federation have called on Baptists worldwide to pray for Christians seeking to bear a faithful witness in Ukraine.

On May 2 clashes between pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian protestors killed at least 36 people in a political crisis being described as on the brink of civil war.

Pavel Unguryan, director of the international mission department for Ukrainian Baptists, told BWA officials the city of Odessa “is on fire” and that the “events of the last days have been really terrifying.”

“The Christian community of Odessa is mourning,” Unguryan said.

“The churches, cathedral and groups have united in a prayer for peace and stability. The churches are calling people to forgive and love like Jesus Christ,” said Unguryan, who served in the country’s parliament 2008-2012.

Ukraine, site of protests since former President Viktor Yanukovych rejected a deal for closer integration with the European Union last November, instead drawing the country closer to Russia, has one of the largest Baptist communities in Europe.

The All-Ukrainian Union of Associations of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, a member organization of the BWA, has more than 121,000 members in more than 2,300 churches.

The country’s acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, is a Baptist, even though the vast majority of citizens are either Orthodox on non-religious.

The Baptist World Alliance and European Baptist Federation have called on Baptists worldwide to pray for Christians seeking to bear a faithful witness in Ukraine.

On May 2 clashes between pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian protestors killed at least 36 people in a political crisis being described as on the brink of civil war.

Pavel Unguryan, director of the international mission department for Ukrainian Baptists, told BWA officials the city of Odessa “is on fire” and that the “events of the last days have been really terrifying.”

“The Christian community of Odessa is mourning,” Unguryan said.

“The churches, cathedral and groups have united in a prayer for peace and stability. The churches are calling people to forgive and love like Jesus Christ,” said Unguryan, who served in the country’s parliament 2008-2012.

Ukraine, site of protests since former President Viktor Yanukovych rejected a deal for closer integration with the European Union last November, instead drawing the country closer to Russia, has one of the largest Baptist communities in Europe.

The All-Ukrainian Union of Associations of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, a member organization of the BWA, has more than 121,000 members in more than 2,300 churches.

The country’s acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, is a Baptist, even though the vast majority of citizens are either Orthodox on non-religious.

]]>Bob AllenPoliticsTue, 06 May 2014 12:19:18 -0400Russian, Ukrainian Baptist leaders meet in Kievhttp://baptistnews.com/culture/politics/item/28559-russian-ukrainian-baptist-leaders-meet-in-kiev
http://baptistnews.com/culture/politics/item/28559-russian-ukrainian-baptist-leaders-meet-in-kievFor the first time since the political crisis in Ukraine developed, leaders of the Baptist unions of Russia and Ukraine came together in Kiev April 8 in what they described as a “very cordial” meeting.

By Bob Allen

The heads of the Baptist unions in Ukraine and Russia met April 8 for the first time since a political crisis began last November putting the two nations on the brink of war.

Presidents of the All-Ukrainian Union of Associations of Evangelical Christians-Baptists and the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists issued a joint statement indicating the two groups want to continue their strong fraternal relations despite geopolitical differences.

Tony Peck, general secretary of the European Baptist Federation, said the meeting demonstrates “that the gospel we believe in transcends political differences between nations and unites us in an overall concern for peace and reconciliation in Christ.”

Vyacheslav Nesteruk, head of the 2,300-church and 125,000-member Ukranian Baptist Union and President Aleksey Smirnov of the 1,800-church and 76,000-member Russian Baptist organization, called on churches “to pray continually for peace between our peoples as well as for those who have suffered during the course of the recent political stand-off.”

The Baptist leaders pledged “our sincere willingness to pray and support deeds of fraternal dialogue and the promotion of peace in the Russian and Ukrainian societies.” They appealed “to all who are responsible for the future of our countries to hold firmly to the principles of freedom of conscience and confession as well as the non-interference of the state and political forces in the internal life of religious organizations.”

They condemned “acts of violence and brutality against persons as well as the resolution of political problems by military means” and appealed to members of various religious groups “to contribute to the process of forgiveness and agreement between our peoples.”

“We mourn those killed in mass clashes on both sides of the conflict, both among the public and combatants,” the statement said. “We call on our brothers and sisters in the churches of Russia and Ukraine to pray for a peaceful resolution of the political confrontation between our two countries.”

The statement called on both the Ukranian and Russian people “to make every effort to avoid any provocations, to retain in their hearts love for the neighbor, to respect his human dignity and religious beliefs.”

Finally, it affirmed, “We are ready, regardless of our circumstances, to cooperate further in proclaiming the gospel in our own countries and throughout the world.”

Both groups are members of the Baptist World Alliance and the European Baptist Federation, one of six BWA regional fellowships that combined represent 228 member bodies in 121 countries numbering nearly 40 million Baptist Christians worldwide.

“Ukraine still has some tough days ahead, and we will continue to pray for its leaders and its people,” Peck said.

]]>For the first time since the political crisis in Ukraine developed, leaders of the Baptist unions of Russia and Ukraine came together in Kiev April 8 in what they described as a “very cordial” meeting.

By Bob Allen

The heads of the Baptist unions in Ukraine and Russia met April 8 for the first time since a political crisis began last November putting the two nations on the brink of war.

Presidents of the All-Ukrainian Union of Associations of Evangelical Christians-Baptists and the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists issued a joint statement indicating the two groups want to continue their strong fraternal relations despite geopolitical differences.

Tony Peck, general secretary of the European Baptist Federation, said the meeting demonstrates “that the gospel we believe in transcends political differences between nations and unites us in an overall concern for peace and reconciliation in Christ.”

Vyacheslav Nesteruk, head of the 2,300-church and 125,000-member Ukranian Baptist Union and President Aleksey Smirnov of the 1,800-church and 76,000-member Russian Baptist organization, called on churches “to pray continually for peace between our peoples as well as for those who have suffered during the course of the recent political stand-off.”

The Baptist leaders pledged “our sincere willingness to pray and support deeds of fraternal dialogue and the promotion of peace in the Russian and Ukrainian societies.” They appealed “to all who are responsible for the future of our countries to hold firmly to the principles of freedom of conscience and confession as well as the non-interference of the state and political forces in the internal life of religious organizations.”

They condemned “acts of violence and brutality against persons as well as the resolution of political problems by military means” and appealed to members of various religious groups “to contribute to the process of forgiveness and agreement between our peoples.”

“We mourn those killed in mass clashes on both sides of the conflict, both among the public and combatants,” the statement said. “We call on our brothers and sisters in the churches of Russia and Ukraine to pray for a peaceful resolution of the political confrontation between our two countries.”

The statement called on both the Ukranian and Russian people “to make every effort to avoid any provocations, to retain in their hearts love for the neighbor, to respect his human dignity and religious beliefs.”

Finally, it affirmed, “We are ready, regardless of our circumstances, to cooperate further in proclaiming the gospel in our own countries and throughout the world.”

Both groups are members of the Baptist World Alliance and the European Baptist Federation, one of six BWA regional fellowships that combined represent 228 member bodies in 121 countries numbering nearly 40 million Baptist Christians worldwide.

“Ukraine still has some tough days ahead, and we will continue to pray for its leaders and its people,” Peck said.

Ukraine’s selection of a Baptist layman as interim president is getting attention in a country where the vast majority of religious people identify as Orthodox.

By Bob Allen

Instability in Ukraine cast a spotlight on the former Soviet republic’s minority Baptist religious population with the selection of interim president Oleksandr Turchynov, a veteran politician, author and lay preacher at the Word of Life Center in Kiev, which belongs to the Evangelical Baptist Union of Ukraine.

Turchynov, an opposition leader to deposed President Viktor Yanukovych and a one-time member of the youth organization of the Soviet Communist Party, became a Christian in 1998. He has a long record for advocacy of religious freedom, pushing for legislation including the return of church properties seized by the state under Communism and ending import taxes on Bibles brought into the country by religious organizations.

He is named in a Wikileaks memo about an interfaith dialogue luncheon in 2006, where he disputed a speaker’s assertion that Ukraine needed a national church. “Turchynov, an ordained Baptist minister, stressed that one of Ukraine's great strengths was its tolerance and diversity; no single denomination dominated society,” the document said. “Turchynov, no friend of the Kremlin, quipped that if the State created a single, national church ‘we'll wind up looking like Russia or Belarus.’”

The European Baptist Federation identifies Turchynov as a Baptist elder at the Word of Life Church, created in 1992 in the city of Kiev. Because of his clean-cut image — he doesn’t smoke or drink, for example — and his high-profile Baptist identity, media reports often label him a pastor. He preaches regularly at the church, even though he travels with security.

Over the years Turchynov has met a number of Baptist leaders from organizations such as the European Baptist Federation and the Baptist World Alliance during their visits to the region.

“I have met him on several occasions, most recently last August with [BWA President] John Upton,” said Tony Peck, general secretary of the European Baptist Federation. “We tried to be supportive to him in the difficult years when he was in opposition.”

Turchynov’s longtime political ally, Yulia Tymoshenko, a leader of the Orange Revolution of 2004, was jailed in 2011 for abuse of power but dramatically released last weekend after the Ukrainian parliament voted her nemesis out of office Feb. 22.

Baptist World Alliance General Secretary Neville Callam met with Turchynov in 2008, commending the then-deputy prime minister on the level of religious freedom enjoyed in the country.

The election of a Baptist might seem unlikely in a nation with an overwhelming Orthodox Christian religious identity and Protestant population smaller than 1 percent, but observers say Turchynov is well equipped to promote unification and healing in a country sharply divided between citizens seeking closer ties to the European Union and those more in agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In a 2006 paper for the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research, Pennsylvania State University history professor Catherine Wannersaid Ukraine offers far more freedoms to non-traditional and foreign religious organizations than other successor Soviet states like Belarus and Russia.

One result is greater religious diversity and higher levels of religious participation, including a notable increase in the number of Baptist and Pentecostal communities since Ukraine achieved independence in 1991.

Before the USSR collapsed, Wanner said, Soviet Ukraine was home to the second-largest Baptist community in the world, after the United States. “With good reason, Ukraine was called the ‘Bible Belt’ of the former Soviet Union,” she observed.

The history of Baptists in Ukraine dates to the second half of the 19th century, when the rural population in the south began baptizing members following their profession of faith. Over time a community began to emerge, and in 1884 the first Baptist congress was held.

Estimates of the number of Ukrainian Baptists in the late 19th century vary widely, from as few as 100,000 to as many as 300,000, significant numbers during the era of Konstantin Pobyedonostsyev, who cracked down on minority sects including Baptists as chief administrative head of the Russian Orthodox church between 1880 and 1905.

As part of its unofficial policy of state atheism, the Soviet Union adopted a law in 1929 putting high taxes on religious buildings and clergy meant to cripple religious bodies financially and permit the government to confiscate buildings for non-payment. During the 1930s about half of Ukrainian Baptist churches were closed.

It wasn’t until 1990 that the Baptist Union of Ukraine was restored after the Supreme Court finally abandoned the Soviet ideal of establishing a scientific, atheistic worldview by guaranteeing freedom of conscience and a legal status for all religious communities.

Like many Baptists in former Soviet republics, Turchynov holds conservative views on some social issues, such as same-sex marriage. He once responded to a reporter’s comment that his views are more typical of the Ukrainian National Conservative Party by saying: “I do not agree. If a man has normal views, then you label him a conservative, but those who use drugs or promote sodomy, you label them progressive. All of these are perversions.”

Baptist leaders reportedly view Turchynov’s ascendancy as good news but are cautious about commenting publicly on political controversy in a climate where at least 88 people have been killed in clashes between protesters and government forces over the last three months.

‘What Ukraine needs is not just a change of people in authority but a change of the system and the relationship of the authorities to ordinary citizens,” said Pavel Unguryan, international missions department director with the Baptist Union of Ukraine and a member of Parliament. “Ukraine needs love, mercy and forgiveness. Ukraine needs Christ!”

In December the Evangelical Baptist Union of Ukraine called on Christians not to be indifferent to the country’s conflicts and to intensify their prayers for an end to hatred and violence.

“Regardless of the diverse views on political battles, we ask you, brothers and sisters, to join the active thoughts of those citizens who are trying to prevent the destruction of the relations between the government and the people,” Baptist union chairman Vyacheslav Nesteruk said in a statement.

“Remember, a heart that cares for his people [and] does not stand apart from its problems is able to love and conquer this aggression, hatred and arbitrary behavior with love,” Nesteruk said. “We will be careful not to cross the boundary, where anger and hostility replace the principles of the gospel.”

Peck said he is encouraging all Baptists to get behind Turchynov in prayer “for what is a very challenging and critical moment in Ukraine's history.”

— George Bullard of the North American Baptist Fellowship contributed to this report.

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Ukraine’s selection of a Baptist layman as interim president is getting attention in a country where the vast majority of religious people identify as Orthodox.

By Bob Allen

Instability in Ukraine cast a spotlight on the former Soviet republic’s minority Baptist religious population with the selection of interim president Oleksandr Turchynov, a veteran politician, author and lay preacher at the Word of Life Center in Kiev, which belongs to the Evangelical Baptist Union of Ukraine.

Turchynov, an opposition leader to deposed President Viktor Yanukovych and a one-time member of the youth organization of the Soviet Communist Party, became a Christian in 1998. He has a long record for advocacy of religious freedom, pushing for legislation including the return of church properties seized by the state under Communism and ending import taxes on Bibles brought into the country by religious organizations.

He is named in a Wikileaks memo about an interfaith dialogue luncheon in 2006, where he disputed a speaker’s assertion that Ukraine needed a national church. “Turchynov, an ordained Baptist minister, stressed that one of Ukraine's great strengths was its tolerance and diversity; no single denomination dominated society,” the document said. “Turchynov, no friend of the Kremlin, quipped that if the State created a single, national church ‘we'll wind up looking like Russia or Belarus.’”

The European Baptist Federation identifies Turchynov as a Baptist elder at the Word of Life Church, created in 1992 in the city of Kiev. Because of his clean-cut image — he doesn’t smoke or drink, for example — and his high-profile Baptist identity, media reports often label him a pastor. He preaches regularly at the church, even though he travels with security.

Over the years Turchynov has met a number of Baptist leaders from organizations such as the European Baptist Federation and the Baptist World Alliance during their visits to the region.

“I have met him on several occasions, most recently last August with [BWA President] John Upton,” said Tony Peck, general secretary of the European Baptist Federation. “We tried to be supportive to him in the difficult years when he was in opposition.”

Turchynov’s longtime political ally, Yulia Tymoshenko, a leader of the Orange Revolution of 2004, was jailed in 2011 for abuse of power but dramatically released last weekend after the Ukrainian parliament voted her nemesis out of office Feb. 22.

Baptist World Alliance General Secretary Neville Callam met with Turchynov in 2008, commending the then-deputy prime minister on the level of religious freedom enjoyed in the country.

The election of a Baptist might seem unlikely in a nation with an overwhelming Orthodox Christian religious identity and Protestant population smaller than 1 percent, but observers say Turchynov is well equipped to promote unification and healing in a country sharply divided between citizens seeking closer ties to the European Union and those more in agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In a 2006 paper for the National Council for Eurasian and East European Research, Pennsylvania State University history professor Catherine Wannersaid Ukraine offers far more freedoms to non-traditional and foreign religious organizations than other successor Soviet states like Belarus and Russia.

One result is greater religious diversity and higher levels of religious participation, including a notable increase in the number of Baptist and Pentecostal communities since Ukraine achieved independence in 1991.

Before the USSR collapsed, Wanner said, Soviet Ukraine was home to the second-largest Baptist community in the world, after the United States. “With good reason, Ukraine was called the ‘Bible Belt’ of the former Soviet Union,” she observed.

The history of Baptists in Ukraine dates to the second half of the 19th century, when the rural population in the south began baptizing members following their profession of faith. Over time a community began to emerge, and in 1884 the first Baptist congress was held.

Estimates of the number of Ukrainian Baptists in the late 19th century vary widely, from as few as 100,000 to as many as 300,000, significant numbers during the era of Konstantin Pobyedonostsyev, who cracked down on minority sects including Baptists as chief administrative head of the Russian Orthodox church between 1880 and 1905.

As part of its unofficial policy of state atheism, the Soviet Union adopted a law in 1929 putting high taxes on religious buildings and clergy meant to cripple religious bodies financially and permit the government to confiscate buildings for non-payment. During the 1930s about half of Ukrainian Baptist churches were closed.

It wasn’t until 1990 that the Baptist Union of Ukraine was restored after the Supreme Court finally abandoned the Soviet ideal of establishing a scientific, atheistic worldview by guaranteeing freedom of conscience and a legal status for all religious communities.

Like many Baptists in former Soviet republics, Turchynov holds conservative views on some social issues, such as same-sex marriage. He once responded to a reporter’s comment that his views are more typical of the Ukrainian National Conservative Party by saying: “I do not agree. If a man has normal views, then you label him a conservative, but those who use drugs or promote sodomy, you label them progressive. All of these are perversions.”

Baptist leaders reportedly view Turchynov’s ascendancy as good news but are cautious about commenting publicly on political controversy in a climate where at least 88 people have been killed in clashes between protesters and government forces over the last three months.

‘What Ukraine needs is not just a change of people in authority but a change of the system and the relationship of the authorities to ordinary citizens,” said Pavel Unguryan, international missions department director with the Baptist Union of Ukraine and a member of Parliament. “Ukraine needs love, mercy and forgiveness. Ukraine needs Christ!”

In December the Evangelical Baptist Union of Ukraine called on Christians not to be indifferent to the country’s conflicts and to intensify their prayers for an end to hatred and violence.

“Regardless of the diverse views on political battles, we ask you, brothers and sisters, to join the active thoughts of those citizens who are trying to prevent the destruction of the relations between the government and the people,” Baptist union chairman Vyacheslav Nesteruk said in a statement.

“Remember, a heart that cares for his people [and] does not stand apart from its problems is able to love and conquer this aggression, hatred and arbitrary behavior with love,” Nesteruk said. “We will be careful not to cross the boundary, where anger and hostility replace the principles of the gospel.”

Peck said he is encouraging all Baptists to get behind Turchynov in prayer “for what is a very challenging and critical moment in Ukraine's history.”

— George Bullard of the North American Baptist Fellowship contributed to this report.

]]>Bob AllenPoliticsWed, 26 Feb 2014 16:20:53 -0500U.S. Baptist church group amid violence in Kievhttp://baptistnews.com/culture/politics/item/28378-u-s-baptist-church-group-amid-violence-in-kiev
http://baptistnews.com/culture/politics/item/28378-u-s-baptist-church-group-amid-violence-in-kievA mission team from Texas near violent protests in the Ukraine called for prayers that political unrest might lead to spiritual renewal in the former Soviet state.

By Bob Allen

Violence in the Ukraine is up close and personal for a Southern Baptist church in Texas praying for an eight-member mission team working with college students Feb. 13-March 2 in Kiev.

Missionaries from First Baptist Church in Odessa, Texas, were reported safe after clashes between demonstrators and police killed at least 26 people and injured 241 in Kiev’s central Independence Square on Feb. 18.

“Please pray for Ukraine!” Missions Pastor Jesse Gore posted on Facebook. “The day brings continued violence on both sides, 20 dead and thousands injured, as we minister here in the city of Kiev.”

The U.S. State Department issued a travel alert Feb. 18, urging U.S. citizens in residences or hotels in the vicinity of protests to leave those areas or prepare to remain indoors, possibly for several days.

The protests began Nov. 21, after Ukraine’s government announced it was suspending preparations to sign an agreement with the European Union in exchange for a $15 billion bailout from Russia.

In a daily prayer guide issued prior to the trip, Gore said with large numbers of students from all over the country, Kiev “has become a melting pot between the Ukrainian nationalism in Western Ukraine and the pro-Russian mentality in Eastern Ukraine.”

“God could use this revolution against the government to ignite a spiritual revolution which will give the Ukrainian people what they need most — freedom in Christ,” he said on the mission team’s Facebook page. “We ask you to cry out to God for us as we take the revolutionary gospel of Christ to a people searching for freedom.”

“The last thing we need from our friends and family is a sense of panic, and the first thing that we need is a commitment to pray for us and for Ukrainian people,” stated a memo from First Baptist Church quoted by the Associated Press. “May God bless Ukraine, and may He use this crisis to precipitate a spiritual awakening.”

Both the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board maintain personnel in Kiev.

The CBF’s Gennady and Mina Podgaisky minister to orphans, runaways and children at risk and are featured in the CBF’s annual Global Missions Offering emphasis this year.

“The Podgaisky’s are doing great ministry among a group of children in need of something positive in their lives,” said Jim Smith, CBF’s interim global missions coordinator. “The recent shift to violence has forced them to keep a low profile, but they are safe. To this point, the violence in Kiev has been contained to Independence Square, which is about five miles from the Podgaisky’s location.”

For security reasons, the IMB doesn’t identify its personnel in Ukraine by name but recently reported through Baptist Press that they are continuing to minister in the midst of the violence.

]]>A mission team from Texas near violent protests in the Ukraine called for prayers that political unrest might lead to spiritual renewal in the former Soviet state.

By Bob Allen

Violence in the Ukraine is up close and personal for a Southern Baptist church in Texas praying for an eight-member mission team working with college students Feb. 13-March 2 in Kiev.

Missionaries from First Baptist Church in Odessa, Texas, were reported safe after clashes between demonstrators and police killed at least 26 people and injured 241 in Kiev’s central Independence Square on Feb. 18.

“Please pray for Ukraine!” Missions Pastor Jesse Gore posted on Facebook. “The day brings continued violence on both sides, 20 dead and thousands injured, as we minister here in the city of Kiev.”

The U.S. State Department issued a travel alert Feb. 18, urging U.S. citizens in residences or hotels in the vicinity of protests to leave those areas or prepare to remain indoors, possibly for several days.

The protests began Nov. 21, after Ukraine’s government announced it was suspending preparations to sign an agreement with the European Union in exchange for a $15 billion bailout from Russia.

In a daily prayer guide issued prior to the trip, Gore said with large numbers of students from all over the country, Kiev “has become a melting pot between the Ukrainian nationalism in Western Ukraine and the pro-Russian mentality in Eastern Ukraine.”

“God could use this revolution against the government to ignite a spiritual revolution which will give the Ukrainian people what they need most — freedom in Christ,” he said on the mission team’s Facebook page. “We ask you to cry out to God for us as we take the revolutionary gospel of Christ to a people searching for freedom.”

“The last thing we need from our friends and family is a sense of panic, and the first thing that we need is a commitment to pray for us and for Ukrainian people,” stated a memo from First Baptist Church quoted by the Associated Press. “May God bless Ukraine, and may He use this crisis to precipitate a spiritual awakening.”

Both the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board maintain personnel in Kiev.

The CBF’s Gennady and Mina Podgaisky minister to orphans, runaways and children at risk and are featured in the CBF’s annual Global Missions Offering emphasis this year.

“The Podgaisky’s are doing great ministry among a group of children in need of something positive in their lives,” said Jim Smith, CBF’s interim global missions coordinator. “The recent shift to violence has forced them to keep a low profile, but they are safe. To this point, the violence in Kiev has been contained to Independence Square, which is about five miles from the Podgaisky’s location.”

For security reasons, the IMB doesn’t identify its personnel in Ukraine by name but recently reported through Baptist Press that they are continuing to minister in the midst of the violence.